


Mercy

by Peldethrin



Category: Transformers Generation One
Genre: Decepticon typical violence, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Megatron beats Starscream, Mentions of Starvation, Multi, On the reg, Seeker Heat Cycles, Seeker Trines, Seekers have talons, Seekers have their own language, Seekers have two rows of teeth, sparkling death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-16 16:28:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29578890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peldethrin/pseuds/Peldethrin
Summary: What does mercy look like to a Decepticon? Does the meaning change from one culture to another, even in an all encompassing one like this, the one they all created when they joined the Decepticon cause?
Relationships: Megatron/Skywarp (Transformers), Megatron/Skywarp/Starscream/Thundercracker (Transformers), Megatron/Starscream (Transformers), Megatron/Thundercracker (Transformers), Soundwave/Skywarp, Soundwave/Starscream, Soundwave/Thundercracker (Transformers)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 34





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fics tone might be all over the place but I can say for fact that it won't be fun or cute.

The war had gone on for much longer than they were promised. That was the nature of the beast. That was Megatron's nature. 

He refused to compromise. He would not lose.

He was killing the Seekers.

Every heat cycle they lived through couldn't produce sparklings, the Energon shortage was cruel to adult frames; it wouldn't allow the production of any new life. 

Every battle was becoming harder to get through. The Autobots had human allies that would help them produce the energy they needed. No such help came for the Decepticons.

They couldn't farm enough solar power in the ocean. Any time they came topside was met with every Autobot in the area. 

The Seekers were dying.

Their heavy war frames couldn't run on fumes. They were being killed in each new battle.

Starscream was suffering the worst. His frame was heavier, made for deep space travel, he barely had the strength to sit up each morning. His trine mates had to help him move most of the time. His performance in battles was horrible now and Megatron knew it.

The old gladiator would take it out on the lethargic Air Commander. He didn't seem to notice the lack of retaliation. Until Soundwave had brought it up after a particularly brutal battle.

"Report: Offline total; Four tank frames, Sixteen ground frames, Seven air force trines, Twenty-one fliers total. 41 offline altogether."

Megatron had stiffened on his throne,

"21 fliers died in this battle? How could Starscream allow this?"

Soundwave's visor flashed bright for a mere second before he spoke again.

"Statement: Starscream barely functioning as of late. Not enough Energon to survive, not enough to function on base."

Megatron jolted and stared Soundwave down. He squinted and sat back to really put thought into this possibility.

"You're right Soundwave. I have forgotten to take into account the differences in which Energon must be split between the forces for continued functionality. That would explain the previous losses and why he seems so willing to lie down and take a beating lately."

Soundwave nodded slowly. He had been witness to the last beating. Starscream had come to the throne room with Megatron already seething and had nothing to say. When the gladiator had turned on him he didn't react. He seemed almost as if he hadn't heard the insults and curses being rained upon his reputation. The most troubling wasn't the silence and lack of defence he had shown.

It was the small whimper he had let slip when the first blow came. 

Soundwave had flinched at that sound. He had never heard anything like it from the Elite Trine leader. Starscream wasn't known for his soothing voice but the spy much preferred the Seeker living up to his name than whatever that noise had been. 

Megatron hadn't heard it; too enraged to see much past his fist let alone listen to anyone. Starscream had fallen only a few hits in and he hadn't gotten up. 

After Megatron had stormed away he still lay across the floor. His faceplates were slightly dented and leaking Energon, his chassis had taken some worse blows, dented and crushed as it was. As always; Megatron had gone for the wings the worst. The thinner, more sensitive appendages were dented, crushed, torn apart in other places. Starscream was known as one of the few Seekers who could take that kind of abuse to the wings and not make a peep. 

The shrieks that had echoed through the room that night would haunt Soundwave for eons to come.

Sometime in the middle of the beating it had gone quiet. Starscream was still online and his optics were bright with agony but his voice box had gone on the fritz. All that came from it was rasping static.

That. That had truly been enough for Soundwave. He couldn't watch anymore. When he had onlined his optics at the end, he had found Skywarp and Thundercracker kneeling at each side of their trine leader.

Their sobs were quiet and there was no Energon to spare for tears but the grief was real. Starscream's optics were dim but he was conscious of his trine mates. His servos came up to their faces and caressed under an optic.

Thundercracker had turned to Soundwave. His handsome faceplates were twisted in despair and his optics were bright with pain. He looked as if he wanted to ask what had happened. He just grabbed Starscream's servo and looked away. 

Skywarp had stood and marched over to Soundwave, his own handsome features twisted, his were in confused anger.

He didn't shout or raise his voice at all,

"What did he do?"

Soundwave knew his faceplates were hidden but that didn't seem to stop Skywarp from spotting the lie he was going to tell.

"Don't give me that slag, Soundwave. I know, TC knows, and you know that what has happened right here wasn't justified. I can see it in the way you're gripping your data pad."

Soundwave looked down, and saw cracks in said pad. He had to make an effort to unclench his fingers. The image of Starscream's lovely features screaming in agony was making it impossible. His optics were wide and bright, his mouth was wider still, even his laser sharp teeth were showing. 

Soundwave said nothing but shook his head. Skywarp wasn't as dumb as many thought. He understood. Starscream had done nothing wrong. The purple and black seeker turned away from the spy and went back to his trine.

He had to help Thundercracker scrape their leader off the ground and carry him away.

Soundwave hadn't heard or seen the Elite Trine since. He had to admit to no one else but himself that he was worried. 

Usually when Skywarp went quiet it meant a prank war. Thundercracker had a bad habit of picking fights when bored. Starscream would plot most days away.

None had seen them.

Megatron stood,

"Soundwave, recalculate our reserve stores. I want to know what's left. I will be paying a visit to my air force."

With that he walked off. Soundwave wasted no time in starting, wanting the report done quickly.

Megatron stomped through the halls of the Nemesis making his way up towards the highest levels. Silly seekers and their need to be close to the sky. 

The closer he got to the last door separating the air force from the grounders the more he noticed the unnatural silence.

There was usually some noise. Nothing he could call language, but the clicks and trills that echoed through this area were responded to as if many conversations happened at once. Today the hall was silent.

Megatron and Soundwave were the only grounders with the code to enter the air force quarters. The gladiator didn't hesitate but he did brace for a possible attack. When none came and the hall in front of him appeared empty he moved forward.

His steps echoed around him. There were few if any signs of life. The hall stretched out into a rec room, it had a single trine in its rafters.

"You! Where is Starscream?"

Megatron's voice boomed off the walls and startled the three. One looked down and pointed to a door. Megatron went through it to find another hall, a single door at the end.

He moved quickly to it and entered his code. The pad glowed red, denying access. He growled. Of course Starscream would change codes on him.

He rolled his optics and forced his fingers into the pad, disarming the lock. The sight that greeted him was strange, in the sense that he had never known what the room his Elite Trine shared looked like.

The room didn't have a berth but it was covered wall to wall with a soft material that was obviously used as a nest. Three seekers lay in the middle. Blue, purple, and a tri-colored.

Skywarp gazed steadily at him, Thundercracker barely spared him a glance. Starscream appeared to be sleeping. His trine mates had fixed the damage done to him by Megatron's own fist.

His SIC was once again a lovely sight to behold.

All three were. It was one of the reasons they were so important. They could use their deadly skills and good looks to get any job done.

Thundercracker was nuzzling into the side of Starscream's helm, trilling low and steady, his arms curled around Starscream's shoulders. Skywarp was tucked behind the other shoulder being used as a pillow, one of his hands was stroking Thundercracker's wing, the other was stroking Starscream's cheek.

The two that were awake had their talons out, and when Thundercracker opened his mouth to change tone Megatron could see the first row of his painfully sharp teeth.

They were going to protect Starscream and try their best to kill him if he messed up here. They would get damn close too. He had seen what two seekers working in tandem could do to bots. The only thing that would save him would be his pit fighting experience.

His lovely seekers.

Skywarp wasn't going to stop staring at him so he decided to slowly make his way into the nest. One step had the purple seeker nearly vibrating with the low tone he was sure was a growl. Two steps had Thundercracker growling. He kneeled and crawled closer; never taking his eyes off the angry snarl Skywarp rarely showed. 

He would have to be fast now. He could almost touch Starscream's pretty blue thrusters, and if he did, his trine mates would go for the optics. 

He shifted to the side and came closer to Thundercracker. He inched closer until he had a hand on the trim blue waist in front of him. Thundercracker was warm and soft under his touch, Skywarp was only slightly less angry about his trine mate being touched than their resting leader. 

He would probably only be bitten a couple times at this rate, he had seen other mechs try less and leave with more damage. There were perks to being one of the two secondary mates this trine took.

Though he was jealous that Soundwave had never been bit.

Thundercracker glared over his wing but didn't move to do anything. Skywarp looked like he was about to take a page straight out of Starscream's book and yell, instead he spoke in Common.

"You best be here, forcing your way into our nest, touching my trine mate; for a damned good reason."

Megatron had forgotten how threatening Skywarp could be when he was serious. He nodded and sent a quick message to Soundwave, wanting the numbers for the Energon stores.

"Soundwave and I have found a hefty amount of Energon belonging to the Air Force. He is bringing it down momentarily. If you wake Starscream, I'll be sure the first cubes come directly to this nest for him."

Thundercracker jerked under Megatron's servo, his helm whipped around, his optics were bright; and he spoke softly,

"Truly?"

Megatron nodded again and watched a smile split across two visible rows of terrifying teeth. 

"Warp! This is great, we can…"

"Easy TC. I want the cubes in front of us before we get our hopes up."

Thundercracker looked back to Megatron and the old gladiator grumbled his way out of the nest, down the hall, and into Soundwave's waiting arm. 

He passed the handle of a medium sized cart full of Energon cubes to Megatron and walked back to the other ones. The rest of the Seeker Armada was slowly filtering in and sniffing around the sustenance. 

Megatron rolled the cart to the edge of the nest and with a flourish of his hand presented the Energon. Thundercracker sat up. Skywarp grunted.

Thundercracker crawled to the edge of the nest and started pulling cubes off the cart, then turning and stashing them away in the blankets around them. Skywarp leaned down over Starscream and whispered to him, his optics brightened slowly, and when fully on were still dull. 

Starscream's voice box gave a burst of static and he extended his talons. He had spotted Megatron too close to the nest.

"Be still Starscream. I bring Energon to you and your air command."

Starscream looked to Skywarp who pointed to Thundercracker; the quiet blue mech who was still snatching and stashing cubes. He smiled at that and rolled onto his free side. Megatron paid close attention to his second.

Starscream had difficulties in rolling over. His wings lay limp and twitched in what he knew was pain. His talons dug into the blankets so he could pull himself forward enough to come to his knees, then his knees stabilized him so he could get his elbows under him. 

Megatron felt like he was watching an ill sparkling die. Starscream's colors were washed out and greying, he was breathing harder than he should. Though his frame was built different from those around him. The extra dense metals must weigh so much more than the others, his protoform had to be exhausting faster than the others.

Megatron grabbed a few cubes from the cart before Thundercracker could hide them away and crawled back into the nest. He gave one to Skywarp and waited for Starscream to sit up. The poor mech didn't seem to be managing well so Megatron put the cubes down and reached for him.

He grabbed the small waist in front of him and pulled the Seeker back into his lap. Starscream truly was weak, he didn't screech or complain, he just sagged against the gladiator behind him. Megatron handed him the cubes and watched as he consumed them. 

Thundercracker came up beside them and sat sipping his cube content. He had a small pile for when the first few were gone. He started slumping when he was finished with his share and Skywarp did the same. Megatron felt Starscream's wings heating up against his chest and looked down. All three had the same expression on their faceplates, and it didn't mean anything good.

Kind of.

Their programming was seeing sufficient levels of food and was sending them into heat!

Megatron sent a quick message to Soundwave, asking after the rest of the air force and received confirmation of their status. 

The whole damn force went into a breeding frenzy!

Megatron didn't know what to do. Did he leave them to sort their systems out? Did he expedite the process by laying with them? This was a mess. A mess that had wandering and sharp talons! Megatron snapped out of his musing and looked at the three seekers whose talons were raking his armour.

Skywarp had a hand going down his neck and wrist. Thundercracker had one on his shoulder and thigh. Starscream had one next to his own head on the chest behind him and another on the opposite thigh. He made peace with his decision being made for him.


	2. Chapter 2

After the Energon shortage had been fixed and the ensuing breeding frenzy passed the Nemesis returned to business as usual. 

The battles tilted back into 50/50 favor and they were able to make back what they lost. The air force was back to being the authority in the sky. Then something strange happened.

The Autobot field medics got weird when any seeker came near them. The Autobot commanders stopped trying to kill and started trying to capture. Optimus Prime himself became involved. They had managed to wrangle Thrust into a trap.

His trine mates dive bombed for him and were caught themselves. Starscream wasn't known for being patient in situations like these but he was also pretty well known to never leave any of his bots behind.

Skywarp was sent in. He warped between the Autobot command and the trine, pointing his null rays at their faceplates. Thundercracker, loud as he always was, dropped behind them with his null rays up. Starscream was busy with the twins, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe.

They left with Thrust and his trine. Things around the Nemesis were beginning to get odd after they returned. 

The Seekers were keeping to themselves again.

Megatron couldn't lure anyone of them out. So he did what he always did and changed the rules. No one got their Energon unless they all came to the main recreational room to get it. Seekers slowly started filtering back out into sight but many were moving gingerly across the ship, almost as if they were hiding something.

Megatron wouldn't be ashamed to admit his genuine surprise when it happened. A trine had just finished their Energon, looking like they needed a rest, the leader fell to his knees and all chaos broke out.

The Seekers scattered in all directions. Screams, chirps, and trills lit up the air. A few trines left completely while others came down from the air, swarming nearer to the fallen leader. All optics were on the fallen seeker.

All optics nearly broke with how wide they were when the floor was being steadily covered in some strange fluid. The kind that usually predated the emergence of a sparkling. 

Then the emergence of a sparkling began. 

The screams and trills rose in decibel level and all grounders were a mix of curious and horrified. Then the room went deathly quiet. The Seekers began to slowly back away, letting others in the room see the small sparkling. 

It wiggled some and opened its intake. Megatron could see the first row of sharp teeth all seekers had, though he had not known they were born with them. The small creation was a thing of wonder. Megatron could admit to himself the appeal of a new life, the possibilities. It was pretty cute too. He wouldn't mind being a sire, especially at his age. He was not going to get younger. He also knew the strain this would put on their energon reserves. 

The gathered grounders tried to get closer for a better look of the new spark. Megatron and Soundwave too. They stood on the stairs leading to the rec room’s second level, high up enough to see impossibly small wing nubs shiver on the sparklings back. The little thing was cold. Soundwave made a noise that Megatron could describe as being nothing but parental. 

The trine that had brought the little spark into the world however did not react the same. The wing mates hissed at it and backed away. The leader who had gone through the ordeal made an odd sound. One Megatron hadn't heard from a seeker before. Then all the remaining seekers straightened their back struts at the unmistakable sound of high thrusters clicking into the room. 

Starscream, in all his reinstated glory, came slowly to stand in front of the still kneeling creator. He looked down at the now fussing sparkling and held his servos out. Now Megatron was getting confused. He had heard many rumors saying that seekers were notoriously protective creators, not letting their young out of their sight or servos. This seeker didn't seem to think Starscream was a threat to their young, and maybe he wasn't. Seekers themselves could be the exception.

The seeker lifted the fussing spark up to Starscream’s claws and shuffled back. Megatron watched as Starscream cooed and trilled at the little thing. It was so small half of its frame fit into each clawed servo holding it. Megatron had never seen Starscream so gentle. 

The Air Commander of the fiercest army this side of a four million year long war brought the sparkling up to his face and trilled, kissing the small face, and smiled. 

Then began to tighten his claws. 

Megatron saw a look of what he could only describe as pure love on Starscream's face, and stepped forward. He made it one step before the tri-colored seeker crushed the sparkling’s helm and legs, twisted, and pulled the little frame in two.

Many things happened at once.

Megatron heard Soundwave purge his tanks, the grounder side of his army all cried out in shock and fear. 

The seekers were deathly quiet.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The drama goes all over the place here, I won't apologize for it either! I've been watching a ridiculous amount of drama on Netflix and its bleed over like a broken faucet. Also, please be warned that this is gonna be where Megatron starts to go off the rails.

Megatron could hear his own spark pulsing, could hear the drip of so small an amount of energon hitting the ground, could hear the crunch of soft metals being released from Starscream’s claws.

Megatron had never feared Starscream as much as he now did. He never knew this particular brand of fear before. He didn't know how to deal. Was this seeker culture? Should he step in now? No seeker was reacting how he thought they should have. No crying, screaming, retribution.

Nothing.

It was as if they were just as dead as the little creature Starscream had just extinguished.

Then the rage set in. Megatron didn't care how little energon they could spare for a sparkling, he would have found it. He had with each new spark Soundwave had birthed into the world, even giving his own share.

Fear be damned. He came stomping down the stairs and marched up to Starscream's back. He roughly grabbed a wing and pulled, spinning the murderous seeker on his thruster.   
And found more tears staining his faceplates than he thought was ever capable, the little frame was being cradled to his cockpit, and Starscream himself was ramping up to open sobs.

Megatron didn't know what to do. The whiplash was so strong he couldn't recover. Starscream was sobbing and chirping, trying to talk to him in Vosnian, starting to hold his hands out. His claws uncurling to offer Megatron the two pieces of corpse. 

The rec room had suddenly become very empty. Only Soundwave, on his knees, clicking his mask back into place after throwing up, was left. Megatron would not touch that little seeker. He also couldn't understand what Starscream was saying.

Starscream's legs gave out and he fell to his knees, bounced, then slid to his aft. His legs were curled next to him. He was shaking from wing tip to thruster and Megatron didn't understand. If this was his reaction then why did he do it.

Soundwave must have picked up on something with his telepathic mind. Starscream wasn't always so easy to pick up on but when he was in great emotional distress was when Soundwave could read him like a data pad.

Soundwave crawled to Starscream and took the little frame in both shaking hands. He turned to Megatron and held the bottom half of the sparkling up. Megatron’s optics brightened in surprise and understanding. The little legs stopped above where knee armour should have been. There was half a leg missing on both, which meant no thrusters, and worse than that, no flight propulsion capabilities.

The little body was severely malformed for it's race. Starscream had killed it out of mercy. A grounded seeker was a mad seeker. The sparkling would have been insane. 

Starscream had fallen completely, curled up on the floor, at the edge of the little one's energon puddle. He had stopped trying to speak Vosnian. His wings were limp except when he gasped for air after his long squealing cries. The last time Megatron had seen his SIC like this the whole ship thought Thundercracker was going to die from wounds that became infected with rust.

Megatron stroked a digit along the leg closest to him and meched up enough to take the body from Soundwave. He commed Hook. The medic should have a suitable way to dispose of the frame.

Megatron watched over Starscream's breakdown, watched Soundwave stroke between weak wings, trying to comfort.

Hook showed up and wrapped the sparkling in a blanket and took it away. Megatron turned back to the chain of his command at a loss. He wasn't part of a dying subrace like Starscream, who grieved at every lost flier, he wasn't a creator or sire like Soundwave. He didn't understand the pain. He regretted sending Skywarp and Thundercracker out on a recon mission so far from base now too.

He knelt down to rub his hand down Soundwave’s back,

“Go. Be with your creations. I will care for Starscream.”

Soundwave looked up at him for a while, silently debating with himself. It was a 50/50 situation with Megatron and Starscream at any given moment, fighting or fucking, even with one of them so compromised. They both had a hair trigger on their tempers and no one knew what set them off until it happened most times. Even still. Soundwave didn't think Megatron had it in him to throttle Starscream with him so pitiful.

Soundwave stood and left. Having weighed the options he rather liked the thought of spending time with his sparklings.

Megatron waited until Soundwave left. He looked at the ball of seeker on the floor and sighed loudly. He had a growing suspicion. Just no way to know for sure. He scooped Starscream up into his arms and chest. The pretty wings he couldn't decide if he worshipped or loathed hung limp from Starscream's back, his helm rolled to tuck under Megatron’s chin.

The sobbing hadn't stopped nor quieted. The loud cries echoed through the halls of the Nemesis and Megatron’s audio receptors. He came to the door to his quarters and entered the door code. Once inside he gently placed Starscream on the best blanket he had on his berth.

Then he stepped back and stared. He had learned a great deal from the last time he had a suspicion. Look closely at Starscream then go from there. The prone seeker lay where he had been placed, not bothering to move.

His wings weren't as shiny as they usually were. His chest looked bigger, his cockpit more pronounced. His waist was thicker around, Megatron was sure. The last tell that Starscream couldn't hide; his thrusters. They weren't as tall and thin as usual. Megatron remembered hearing something about that. He wanted to be sure before he jumped to any conclusions this time.

He picked a limp thruster up and looked closer. Running his thumb along the sharp edge. Starscream's cries turned to confused whimpers. Sensitive to touch, shorter, wider. All three checked out.

Megatron slipped his hand up along the warm metal of his SIC’s ankle joint, the thick metal armour protecting his knee joints, the always enticing white thighs; over the red of his hips. Megatron pushed until the seeker was on his back, blinking confused. Each of Megatron’s large, heavy, and powerful hands came to frame a lovely waist; then he pushed his thumbs in. 

Starscream gasped and his claws shot to the delicate wires of Megatron’s wrists. He went from crying in grief to in pain. His breathing hitched and he went to kick at Megatron's chest, until Megatron felt something push back. From within Starscream's body. He snarled at the seeker beneath him and moved his hands up to cup and grope the cockpit above the waist that was obviously carrying a new spark.

He pushed against the swell of glass. Making it creak under his hands. Starscream was still clawing at his wrist components, drawing small flecks of energon, not enough to kill or wound; just to hurt. Megatron leaned over him growling. 

"You're sparked seeker."

Starscream whined and gave up. He let his claws fall to the blanket beneath him, his helm follow, and his legs lay limp. 

Megatron kept a firm hand groping the cockpit below him and moved the other down to push back into the waistline. He felt something respond, clawing into the palm of his hand. A sparkling. A living creature was being nurtured in the war hardened, battle proven, murderous betrayer Megatron called a Second in Command.

He was the only possible sire.

It was his sparkling too.

Megatron hovered over him whispering to the limp tri-color,

"When were you going to tell me?"

Starscream's wings twitched and he brought a servo up to rest over the aggressive press of Megatron's. He looked exhausted and resigned.

"When it didn't come out malformed."

Megatron got the distinct impression that Starscream expected this one to be as the one from earlier. He knew that the sparklings conceived after fuel shortages never fared well but he spoke as if it wasn't the first spark he extinguished for such reason.

Megatron pushed his hand in harder, he wanted it to hurt,

"How many have there been?"

Starscream wouldn't look at him. His grip on the cockpit tightened, almost to cracking.

"All but two!"

Megatron came to his pedes, shaking Starscream's servo off, and paced the length of the room. Starscream hadn't given him an exact number but with how the air force had been acting lately it must have been a minimum of one per trine.

That was 14 malformed sparklings. Minimum. 39 or 40 not counting the two that still functioned. With how low profile Starscream had been meant he had dispatched them all. All but two. Megatron stopped cold. One was nestled safely in Starscream's gestation tank but who kept the other?

"Who else? Who else still carries life within them!?"

Starscream hadn't moved, not even to flinch. He kept his jaw clenched. It had to be Thundercracker or Skywarp. Starscream would never go down in flames for any one else. Megatron commed Soundwave; relaying that he needed to get a hold of his SIC's trine mates. Tell them to return immediately.

He turned back to find Starscream stroking down his plating. Being gentle with the area his gestation tank sat.

It made him angry.

To think he could have lost the chance to know about something he created. Something that could survive the malformations the other trines could not. It was possible. The others hadn't taken a mate from outside their coding, it breed weakness into their progeny. The Command Trine had taken him. His coding could balance out theirs. 

Another thought came.

"If you won't tell me who of your trine carries with you, then at least tell me why all three of you do not carry together."

Starscream froze. He looked at Megatron sideways and flinched. His momentum took him off the berth and onto too sensitive thrusters, making a dash for the door. Megatron barely moved fast enough to catch him by the hips, thank Primus the sparkling widened his frame or he would have slipped through the warlord's grasp.

He slammed Starscream back into the soft covers on his berth. The small shout was covered up by Megatron's unhinged scream. 

"Tell me right this moment or I'll interrogate your trine in your stead!"

Starscream came up to his knees and crawled away from Megatron, up the berth to the wall. He curled a servo around his belly as one dug grooves into the wall. His whispers sounded hysterical,

"It was an accident! We didn't know yet, it was too early to tell. It wasn't his fault! You can't take it out on him, it was bad enough losing the sparkling! It wasn't his fault!"

Megatron advanced around the bed and caught a fleeing Starscream by the wrists, pinning him to the wall. He got close enough to see the fear and hysteria reflected in deep red optics and hissed,

"Tell me."

Starscream's breath hitched again and he did. How they were going to the flight deck to plan the next move on the raid from their side, how Scorponok had accosted them in the halls, started a fight, Skywarp had thought he had won; when a fist had connected with his belly. Fluid from his gestation tank had covered the floor, his tank ruptured from the impact. Infighting wasn't uncommon so it had gone unreported.

When they had been able to drag a screaming Skywarp back into the safety of their nest was when it had happened. His body forced the frame out around the bent metal. An extinguished sparkling with a smashed helm came to rest in Starscream's claws. It was so small.

They repaired the parts of Skywarp that had been damaged, let his own self repair work on his tank, and disposed of the tiny frame. Skywarp hadn't moved for weeks after. He only wept for the lost chance.

Megatron could feel Starscream shaking. He wasn't lying about this. Skywarp had been forced to birth an empty frame. That explained his attitude. He was melancholy and depressed, never a good look on such a happy and mischievous seeker.

Starscream whimpered and writhed, Megatron snapped back to attention and found himself inflicting undue damage on thin wrists. He let Starscream go and cradled his wrists, checking for wounds.

Megatron didn't want to hurt him. He would treat them right. Starscream and Thundercracker. Carriers had to be taken care of.


End file.
